1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power supply system that supplies power to electronic equipment and, more particularly, to a power supply system that supplies power to mobile electronic equipment such as portable telephones, notebook personal computers, a digital cameras, and electronic toys.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIGS. 27 to 29, there are shown examples of a conventional power supply system that supplies power to mobile electronic equipment. FIG. 27 is a view showing an outer appearance of a conventional power supply system performing power supply to a portable telephone. In FIG. 27, a numerical symbol 101 indicates a portable telephone and a numerical symbol 102 indicates a holder of a terminal contact type charger (AC adapter) dedicated for charging a battery built in the portable telephone 101. Attached to the holder 102 of the AC adapter are an AC adapter 102a (integral with an AC plug) and a cord 102b. The AC plug is inserted into a socket provided on a wall surface or the like and thereby a commercial power supply (AC 100 V) is supplied to the AC adapter 102a. The AC adapter 102a converts the supplied AC 100 V to a DC voltage used in charging the battery of the portable telephone 101 and charges the battery of the portable telephone 101 with the DC voltage through the cord 102b, the AC adapter holder 102, and power transmission electrodes that are made contact with power receiving electrodes of the portable telephone 101. The DC voltage can also works directly as a power supply for driving the portable telephone 101.
FIG. 28 is a view showing an outer appearance of another conventional power supply system performing power supply to a notebook personal computer (hereinafter referred to a notebook PC). In FIG. 28, a numerical symbol 103 indicates a notebook PC and a numerical symbol 104 indicates a dedicated charger (AC adapter) for charging a battery built in the notebook PC 103. Attached to the AC adapter 104 are an AC plug 104a, and cords 104b and 104c. The AC plug 104a is inserted into a socket provided on a wall surface or the like, and thereby the commercial power supply (AC 100 V) is supplied to the AC adapter 104 through the cord 104b. The AC adapter 104 converts the supplied AC 100 V to a DC voltage used in charging the battery of the notebook PC 103 and supplies the DC voltage to the notebook PC 103 through the cord 104c to thereby charge the built-in battery. The DC voltage can also works as a power supply for directly driving the notebook PC 103.
FIG. 29 is a view showing an outer appearance of still another conventional power supply system performing power supply to a shaver. In FIG. 29, a numerical symbol 105 indicates a shaver, and a numerical symbol 106 indicates a non-contact dedicated charger (AC adapter) for charging a battery built in the shaver 105. Attached to the AC adapter 106 are an AC plug 106a and a cord 106b. The AC plug 106a is inserted into a socket provided on a wall surface or the like, and thereby the commercial power supply (AC 100 V) is supplied to the AC adapter 106 through the cord 106b. The AC adapter 106 converts the supplied AC 100 V once to a DC voltage, and, thereafter, the DC voltage is subjected to switching and supplied to the battery of the shaver 105 by means of the non-contact power supply using magnetic coupling so as to charge the battery. The DC voltage can also works as a power supply for directly driving the shaver 103.
A non-contact charger is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-16789, in which not only is a secondary side coil installed at the bottom of the body thereof, but a primary side coil is also installed below a body placement section of the charger. When the body is placed on the body placement section of the charger, the primary side coil installed below the body placement section is coupled magnetically to the second side coil installed at the bottom of the body so that a battery located in the body is charged. A housing of the body is constituted of an assembly of plural housing parts obtained by dividing the housing in parallel to a plane to cut the secondary side coil longitudinally, wherein a bottom wall is formed in continuity with the outer peripheral wall of one of the housing parts, and the secondary side coil is provided on the inner surface of the bottom wall, while the outer surface of the bottom wall serves as a contact surface with the body placement section of the charger when charging is performed.
As shown in FIGS. 27 to 29, the dedicated AC adapters, however, are required for charging the electronic equipment such as the portable telephone 101, the notebook PC 103, and the shaver 105, and other AC adapters cannot be used instead. This means that there is no compatibility among AC adapters. Especially, in the case of the portable telephone, dedicated AC adapters are used for respective portable telephones which are different in model or make, thereby providing no compatibility among these AC adapters, only being resulted in inconvenience.
Since there is no compatibility among AC adapters, a problem has arisen that a house is flooded with many AC adapters. In a case where many adapters are present in a house, another problem has arisen that the AC adapters and cords used for connecting the AC adapters to the commercial power supply become impediments to movement of family members.
In a case where equipment is installed on a shelf, such as a personal computer rack, relocating the equipment involves both the equipment and an AC adapter thereof as a set, only resulting in cumbersomeness. A cleaning robot, a toy robot, and the like have to be charged by respective dedicated charging adapters, which requires an operation that each robot is connected to the AC adapter for charging every time.
An AC adapter specially designed for corresponding electronic equipment is necessary to be carried by a person who carries the electronic equipment in a public facility at a destination of travel or in transit, which has greatly devalued portability of the mobile electronic equipment. When an automobile is used for traveling, a charging adapter is attached to a dashboard, a console box, or the like to thereby charge a portable telephone, whereas in such a case, the adapter and a cord thereof become obstacles during driving, and a case arises where a view field of a driver is partly blocked.
In a conventional technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-16789, since there is no worrisome possibility of level differences occurring among parts bonded at the bottom of the housing, and a spacing between the primary side and secondary side coils can be kept constant, stable charge current can be supplied to the main body of electronic equipment. However, only one designated type of electronic equipment can be charged by the non-contact charger with a problem that the non-contact charger cannot charge plural types of electronic equipment.
In a case where a price for drinking and eating is paid at a cashier after the drinking and eating in eating houses such as a coffee shop, a restaurant, or the like, or in a case where a hotel charge or the like is paid at a front desk when guests check out of accommodations such as hotels and inns, in some cases, the cashier or the front desk is inundated with many guests who come there at a time in order to pay for their bills. In such situations, the cashier or the front desk is crowded, causing a problem of disabling a smooth payment. Moreover, the problem causes a necessity for employees in the eating house or the hotel accommodation to stand by at the cashier or the front desk in order to facilitate a smooth payment.
In a case where a train ticket is purchased from an automatic ticket dispenser, it is necessary to find out a fare to a destination in a fare schedule or the like and then purchase the ticket, which has been problematically cumbersome. In addition, another annoyance accompanies when the ticket is actually purchased, small change has to be carried. On the other hand, there is a payment method already available in which a prepaid card is purchased in advance, and the prepaid card is put through an automatic ticket dispenser installed at a ticket gate in a station, and thereby a charge required for a boarding distance is subtracted from a recorded balance on the prepaid card, whereas a problem has remained unsolved that such a prepaid card is not standardized among railway companies. If passengers change trains and take routes operated by a plurality of companies, many kinds of prepaid cards are required to be at hand for selective use.